Monday 30 December 2013

Winter stroll

Winter stroll oil.  40cm x 50cm

Wanted to paint a winter scene for a while. 

Tuesday 12 November 2013

Autumn Woodland framed

Framed up Autumn wood

Found a frame that I think suits the picture. 

Autumn Woodland

Autumn woodland watercolour A4

I wanted to paint another woodland picture.  I enjoyed painting the small wintery one and moonlight one so much.  
I hope to try this in oils at some point too.

Sunday 20 October 2013

Murphy the Deerhound Lercher - Watercolour

Murphy the Deerhound Lercher - Watercolour

A good friend asked if I could paint his Mum's dog for him. 
I loved painting all the hair!  Beautiful dog and an absolute pleasure to paint.

Friends Labrador watercolour

Mazy watercolour

A friend asked if I could paint her daughters labrador when I forgot to take anything to do to the last art group.
She was very happy when I turned up with the picture finished last week.

Tuesday 8 October 2013

London Plein air oil

London Plein air oil

I went out painting the other afternoon with the Brass Monkeys plein air group. 
Had a wonderful afternoon painting whilst feeling terrified at how many people stopped to watch whilst we painted!!!  Something I need to get used to :)

Monday 7 October 2013

River Oil - Kidlington

River Oil

Painted from a photograph I took several weeks ago when out walking our dog Marlowe.  The light was just beautiful that day and I wanted to see if I could paint the water convincingly.

Thursday 12 September 2013

Poppy heads watercolour

Poppy heads watercolour

I added a blue wash to the background to add more life to this painting.  The poppy heads looked a little dull on a white background.

Friday 6 September 2013

Irises framed up

Framed the Iris painting last night.

I like the double white mount.  I think this sets the painting off quite nicely.

Purple Irises

Purple Irises watercolour

Back to my comfort zone with this painting.

Moonlight woods

Moonlight woods watercolour

Tried a night time version of my woods.

Farmer

Farmer watercolour

Trying to do more country scenes and add life to my paintings by putting people and animals in to them.

Thursday 18 July 2013

Manor farm stables

Manor farm stables oil 24x30cm

Painted this on location at the stables the last couple of mornings.  I added Toby the horse later from a photograph. I didn't feel confident painting him there as he was moving around quite a bit :)

Friday 12 July 2013

St Marys Church Gate Plein air oil

Church Gate Plein air oil

Painted this yesterday evening after work out painting with a few friends from our village art group.

Monday 8 July 2013

Beach watercolour

Beach watercolour

Another test with the washes of colour.  My friend Natalie was painting this picture and I thought I would experiment to see if the loose washes of colour would work with this subject.

Sunday 7 July 2013

Tuesday 2 July 2013

St Mary's woods watercolour

St Mary's woods watercolour

Another experiment with washes of colour.  

Highate Cemetary watercolour

 Highate Cemetary watercolour

Experimenting with washes of paint rather than fiddling around with details.  Enjoyed painting like this and will continue experimenting for a while like this.


Tuesday 25 June 2013

Thame Plein air Oil

Thame Oil

Another Plein air done in oils.  This was painted in gale force winds again,  my hands frozen to my brush.
Good experience painting in extreme conditions, it will make painting on a nice day seem easy I hope.

Wednesday 19 June 2013

Whitstable Plein air

 Whitstable Plein air oils.

Painted on a workshop given by Michael Richardson in Whitstable. 
A wonderful day with a group of lovely people and an amazing workshop from an incredibly talented artist.



Cherwell Boathouse Oil

Cherwell Boathouse Oil

Second attempt at Plein air in oils.  Painted this one in variable weather where I was shone and rained upon in equal measure.
Wonderful time painting this with friends from the Oxford Bury Knowle Art group. 

Garden Plein air oil

 Messy Garden

Painted Plein air.  I can't say how different it is to paint something on the spot rather than in the studio. 
It was quite an experience trying this... and something I loved and am finding more and more addictive as I do more of them.






Sunday 2 June 2013

Red Onion watercolour

Enjoyed painting another onion watercolour.
I am not sure why, but I seem to prefer any paintings I do which have a red colour. 

Monday 25 March 2013

Golden Wasps

Golden Wasps watercolour

Applying gold to a painting as a test.  I would like to experiment more with the idea of applying gold to parts of paintings. 
This painting is angled a little to show the reflected surface.

Monday 18 March 2013

Orange pepper

Orange Pepper watercolour

Wanted to paint something with a strong colour. 

Tuesday 26 February 2013

Grapes watercolour

Grapes watercolour

My mum kept saying that I should have a go at painting some grapes.
 A couple of friends suggested to use white gouache over the watercolour to get the patchy effect, but I found I didn't need it in the end.  Thought they looked ok as they are.  I might try the gouache suggestion next time I paint grapes though.


Thursday 14 February 2013

Josie watercolour

Josie watercolour

After painting the oil of Marlowe I felt I needed to do another watercolour. 
I wanted to paint my friends Labrador Josie for a while as she is such a pretty girl.  Just playing around, but it came out nicer than I expected, so I framed it up and gave it to my friend Eileen.  She was very happy.

Saturday 19 January 2013

Marlowe at Hampton Gay


Marlowe at Hampton Gay - Oil

Have been having fun trying out oil paints again.  This time I thought I would try something a little more complicated.  Painted from a photo I took whilst walking Marlowe up by Hampton Gay manor house ruins.
Will let it dry and go over with retouching varnish in case I need to change anything else on it.  Looking forward to getting it framed up and hung safely out of the reach of our animals.